The president had previously commuted her life sentence for a nonviolent drug offense.
President Donald Trump on Friday granted a full pardon to Alice Marie Johnson — the 65-year-old Memphis woman whose life sentence he commuted two years ago — just hours after Johnson spoke on behalf of Trump’s reelection campaign during the Republican National Convention.
“We are giving Alice a full pardon,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office, as Johnson sat beside him.
“I just told her. We didn’t even discuss it,” Trump said. “We just — you were out there, I saw you in the audience last night, and I asked the folks if you could bring Alice over. And we’re going to give a full pardon. We’re going to do it right now. That means you have been fully pardoned. That’s the ultimate thing that can happen.”
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Johnson was serving life in prison for a nonviolent drug offense when Trump commuted her sentence in June 2018 at the urging of reality TV star Kim Kardashian West, who visited the White House to advocate for Johnson’s release.
On Thursday, during the final night of Republicans’ nominating convention, Johnson delivered a primetime speech testifying to Trump’s “compassion” and commending the administration’s work to advance criminal justice reform legislation.
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Yesterday, Alice Marie Johnson spoke at the Republican National Convention. Today, President Trump gave her a full pardon. https://t.co/9QV1mbUTJQ
— POLITICO (@politico) August 28, 2020
More showmanship and gimmickry from Trump. And I suppose it’s gratitude to Kardiashian’s husband for his “help” in siphoning votes away from Biden. Only it won’t work.
She wouldn’t have gotten the pardon without the speech. Kanye is suing in Wisconsin and another state to get on the ballot.
Did a little reading about Johnson. The premise behind all the uproar over her seemingly harsh life sentence for “minor” drug crimes leaves out the fact that she was a major player in a large cocaine smuggling ring. She was not some low level pusher or some innocent who unknowingly smuggled drugs and was caught.
Since her release, Johnson is now a “criminal justice reform advocate” — i.e., letting prisoners (many violent criminals) out of prison or not sending the convicted to prison at all. Trump is all in on this criminal justice reform scheme and that, my friends, makes his law and order persona and his supposed “conservatism” yet another lie.
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